Senior Center calls for volunteers

Sunday

Rosie Walter has put out a call for help — a little help from a lot of people.

Walter, director of the Salina Senior Center since Jan. 1, would really like volunteers for Meals on Wheels. But she also could use donations and volunteers for other activities.

Meals on Wheels offers senior citizens one good, hot meal a day, with cold side dishes such as salad or applesauce and dessert.

Volunteers deliver the meals to people who can’t get out or who struggle cooking at home, said Linda Riedy, who coordinates the Meals on Wheels program.

Her staff of four makes 100 to 120 meals to serve in the lunchroom each day, 140 to be delivered through Meals on Wheels and about 20 to take to Sunflower Adult Day Services — between 250 and 300 meals a day five days a week.

Volunteers spend about an hour every day for a week, every six weeks or so, delivering meals. Riedy said she has a few split weeks open, where volunteers deliver two or three days a week.

Takes an hour

Katie Weis has delivered for about eight years. About 10:45 a.m., she arrives at the old Saline County Courthouse and packs the hot food into thermal carriers and cold foods into separate carriers. Her husband usually drives, so at each of her 10 stops, she takes the food in and says hello. Even with chatting for a few minutes at each stop, it takes her about an hour.

“I like helping those people,” Weis said. “I feel this is my civic responsibility as a Salina resident.”

The lists of stops can vary, Riedy said. Some people need meals only for a couple of weeks or months while they recuperate from illnesses or injuries.

Others struggle moving around the kitchen and cooking. She’s had numerous calls for meals since Christmas, when the weather turned cold.

Anyone of any age who can get out is welcome to eat at the senior center lunchroom from 11:15 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Monday through Friday. The hot lunch or salad bar will set you back $4.75.

Riedy said none of the food goes to waste. Any leftovers are put into individual trays and frozen. Those frozen meals are delivered to customers on Friday to reheat on the weekend.

Volunteers needed

Walter could use volunteers in the lunchroom, too. Some seniors can get out but can’t carry a tray. Or they have failing eyesight and need assistance with finding things. Walter said she can always use people to wipe off tables or serve coffee.

Meals on Wheels doesn’t make any money, Walter said. Those who can pay for meals do, but no one goes hungry. She said the Area Agency on Aging supplements the county program.

Salina Regional Health Center raised $1,902 for Meals on Wheels from a wear-jeans-to-work day. And Walter recently received a check for $8,000 for senior programs from a single source.

The Saline County Agency on Aging, the forerunner of Senior Services, had started a fundraising campaign and had some donors. The agency became the county’s department of senior services on Jan. 1. The Senior Center also has an endowment fund, Walter said.

Cash is good, but Walter will take supplies, too, for classes the senior center offers.

She’d love another sewing machine. The sewing group, Piece Makers, is making curtains for the staff break room. The group normally makes quilts for people going through serious illness and for youth at Saint Francis Community Services.

The painting classes can use paints and canvases, Walter said.

“The money is not always there,” she said.

She plans to apply for grants.

It doesn't help that the former county courthouse building in which the Senior Center is housed is more than 100 years old. The plumbing is old and Walter just had to install a new garbage disposal, even though the cost for repair wasn’t in the budget.

When the county took over, the senior center was reported to be nearly $100,000 in debt.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.